Gli epiteti omerici nel Grillo di Plutarco: parallelismo simbolico tra animali e divinità

Abstract

In Bruta animalia ratione uti, Plutarch, through a surreal dialog between a demythologized Ulysses and a pig, succeeds to put, ethically and rationally, the animal over the man. With a sapient use of Homer’s text, whose epithets are mentioned several times, the author overturns the system of values on which homeric epic is based, creating a comparison plan between animals, gods and men. Ironically, the animal appears, because of its own characteristics, worthier than the man to be related to the divine.